Geer St. Garden is my new favorite place in Durham for eating outside. It’s got family-style picnic tables on its outdoor patio, and when the nights are not humid and relatively cool, it is absolute heaven there.

It is a good excuse to have a basket of fries with their srirachanaise or mustardayonaise or garlic aioli, a cold glass of beer, or one of their interesting sounding cocktails. The food is simple (sandwiches, tacos, salads), but it’s a good kind of simple- high quality ingredients, mostly local, and just really delicious. Add a game of Scrabble, and it makes for a delightful summer evening out.

Also, I give them bonus points for not putting in meringue in their banana pudding. Your mileage may vary, but as I am firmly in the anti-meringue banana pudding camp (unless it is Scratch Bakery’s Italian? Swiss? meringue), this pleases me.